Judges 5:18

5:18 The men of Zebulun were not concerned about their lives; ¹ 

Naphtali charged on to the battlefields. ² 

Judges 5:21

5:21 The Kishon River carried them off;

the river confronted them ³  – the Kishon River.

Step on the necks of the strong! ⁴ 

Judges 9:17

9:17 my father fought for you; he risked his life ⁵  and delivered you from Midian’s power. ⁶ 

Judges 10:16

10:16 They threw away the foreign gods they owned ⁷  and worshiped ⁸  the Lord. Finally the Lord grew tired of seeing Israel suffer so much. ⁹ 

Judges 16:16

16:16 She nagged him ¹⁰  every day and pressured him until he was sick to death of it. ¹¹ 

[5:18]  ¹ tn Heb “Zebulun was a people which despised its life even unto death.”

[5:18]  ² tn Heb “Naphtali was on the heights of the field.”

[5:21]  ³ tn Possibly “the ancient river,” but it seems preferable in light of the parallel line (which has a verb) to emend the word (attested only here) to a verb (קָדַם, qadam) with pronominal object suffix.

[5:21]  ⁴ tn This line is traditionally taken as the poet-warrior’s self-exhortation, “March on, my soul, in strength!” The present translation (a) takes the verb (a second feminine singular form) as addressed to Deborah (cf. v. 12), (b) understands נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) in its well-attested sense of “throat; neck” (cf. Jonah 2:6), (c) takes the final yod (י) on נַפְשִׁי (nafshiy) as an archaic construct indicator (rather than a suffix), and (d) interprets עֹז (’oz, “strength”) as an attributive genitive (literally, “necks of strength,” i.e., “strong necks”). For fuller discussion and various proposals, see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 270-71.

[9:17]  ⁵ tc Heb “threw his life out in front,” that is, “exposed himself to danger.” The MT form מִנֶּגֶד (minneged, “from before”) should probably be read as מִנֶּגְדּוֹ (minnegdo, “from before him”); haplography of vav has likely occurred here in the MT.

[9:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “hand.”

[10:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “from their midst.”

[10:16]  ⁸ tn Or “served”; or “followed.”

[10:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “And his spirit grew short [i.e., impatient] with the suffering of Israel.” The Hebrew noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) also appears as the subject of the verb קָצַר (qatsar) in Num 21:4 (the Israelites grow impatient wandering in the wilderness), Judg 16:16 (Samson grows impatient with Delilah’s constant nagging), and Zech 11:8 (Zechariah grows impatient with the three negligent “shepherds”).

[16:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “forced him with her words.”

[16:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and his spirit was short [i.e., impatient] to the point of death.”